CHESTNUT HILL — The No. 16 Massachusetts hockey team’s Michael Hrabal kept No. 1 Boston College at bay to give the Minutemen (16-11-2, 7-8-2 Hockey East) a 3-2 win on the road Friday night.
“I think the difference for us down the stretch is going to be [Hrabal]. He was [on Friday], he played outstanding,” head coach Greg Carvel said. “I challenged him before the game. I said ‘Keep [BC] to two or less and we’ll score three,’ and that’s how it played out.”
After allowing BC’s (21-6-1, 13-4-1 HEA) first goal from Gabe Perreault in the first period on its second power play, the sophomore goaltender composed himself in net and didn’t allow the Eagles sophomore forward to sound the buzzer again.
In the third period with under six minutes left and BC down 2-1, Perreault received the puck from Ryan Leonard and skated up the middle to face Hrabal one-on-one as defenseman Owen Murray was trailing behind. Hrabal let the puck bounce off his leg pad as Perreault skated behind the net before covering to sound the whistle.
“It made it way easier,” Larry Keenan said of Hrabal’s aid to the defense. “He made some great saves, so [it] definitely built confidence and momentum in our direction whenever he made a good save like that.”
Hrabal and the penalty kill units kept BC from capitalizing on five of six power plays.
Eighteen seconds into the third period, Lucas Ölvestad was sent to the box for holding. Perreault and Teddy Stiga connected right in front of the net looking to tap the puck in on Hrabal’s right. The sophomore, though, stuck his leg out at the last second to deflect the puck up and away. He only had a few seconds to compose himself before Leonard took a shot from the left circle, leading to Perreault getting his stick on the puck again on Hrabal’s right. Unable to cover the rebound immediately after making a save with his shoulder, he followed Andre Gasseau at the edge of the net and covered the puck before the Eagles could harp on another rebound opportunity.
Even when down a man, BC kept UMass off balance and flipped the energy back on its side. When Aram Minnetian was called for cross checking in the second period, Connor Joyce attempted to skate by Hrabal and put two shots on net that bounced off his leg pads. Right behind Joyce, Brady Berard tried finding success for a third time. Hrabal kept his leg extended and deflected the puck high up into the air and away from the back of the net.
Only after the Eagles pulled goaltender Jacob Fowler to add an extra skater into the mix was when they found the back of Hrabal’s net again. Kenny Connors’ empty net goal, though, secured a 3-2 win for UMass.
“The other focus for us was to really protect the net front for [Hrabal] and outside of the six-on-five goal when [BC] scored on the back post … the power play [goal] was a back post. To me, you got to take that away from them,” Carvel said.
The sophomore finished the night with 37 saves on 39 total shots.
“[Hrabal] to me, he was the story [on Friday],” Carvel said.
Sydney Ciano can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter/X @SydneyCiano.
